Samantha Comes Out to Society
by xoamrc
Summary: Samantha and Nellie are 16 and are about to be presented to society. Nellie has a beau and a secret she's kept from him, meanwhile Samantha looks for love.
1. Chapter 1

***btw, Samantha's last name is Edwards now (not Parkington) because her Uncle adopted her so she changed her last named. I'm not sure if the Edwards had anymore children after Samantha and the O'Malley's but whatever, this is fiction. (please R&R). P.S. The beginning may be a bit bland but I just wanted to establish introductions to most of the characters. P.P.S. I do not own Samantha, Nellie, and all the characters in the original American Girl Books or those from the Movie***

~Debutantes, Christian Holsten, and a Surprise~

_"He is not only unknown, but he is impossible." -Emily Post on The "Escort"_

"Samantha!" called Gertrude, the Edwards' housemaid, "Your grandmother and the Admiral are here!" Samantha Parkington, a lovely young lady of 16 was to be presented to society along with her best friend and adopted sister, Nellie, and her grandparents, specifically her grandmother, have come to oversee the preparations the girls are undertaking.

"Grandmary, Admiral, how good it is to see you both!" said Samantha and generously hugged her grandparents, "I do hope your trip was pleasant."

"Of course my dear," replied Grandmary, "we would want nothing more than to come see our dear grandaughter being presented to society." Samantha and Nellie were going to be presented at the Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR) Debutante Ball and so Grandmary had come to help with the preparations for the next two weeks with her husband, Admiral Beemer.

"My dear Grandmary, Admiral Beemer, welcome," said Cornelia, Samantha's aunt and adopted mother, as she entered the room. Cornelia was the picture of old fashioned beauty but kept modern ideas, a lady that Samantha aspires to become. "If you both aren't tired from your trip then won't you have dinner with us?"

"We're not tired at all" replied the Admiral, "and I'm sure my girls cannot wait to talk about the ball."

They then proceeded to dinner. The Edwards' dining room was grand and large which was only fitting. The Edwards family was quite large and they needed extra space for the people they entertain. Soon enough there will be new guests for the Edwards to entertain, prospective young gentlemen come to court Samantha and Nellie.

Dinner was entertaining and quite hectic with the Edwards children among the adults. Samantha was adopted by her Uncle Gardiner and her Aunt Cornelia. The Edwards also adopted the O'Malley girls: Jenny, Bridget, and eldest O'Malley, Nellie, is and has been Samantha's best friend even before they had been adopted. The Edwards also had two more children of their own, Alice and Ryan. Seven children was a sightful and a blessing.

After dinner Samantha and Nellie excused themselves. Samantha wanted to write letters to her friends in her room. Nellie also wanted to write to a "friend", a very good friend infact. His name was Christian Holsten and they had met a year ago in the public library. Christian was from a very prominent and wealthy family of New York though he was very good natured and not at all stuck up. They fell for each other had been enjoying each others company as friends only (Aunt Cornelia approved of the girls to have male friends but did not want them to become courted until they were 16) yet he still sent her love letters and she had sent him her handkerchief and her heart. Samantha was happy for her sister but from time to time felt the desire for a "friend" of her own.

"Oh Sam! You will never guess what Christian wrote to me!" cried Nellie. Her cheeks were so red that it was starting to overpower her strawberry-blonde hair and she was jumping at a pace loud enough to cause a stir to the family downstairs, "Christian had asked our mother and father for their permission to be my escort for the Ball and they said yes! He says he will come tomorrow to take me on a stroll. Goodness, I'm so excited I don't think i can wait for tomorrow."

"That's great Nelly," said Samantha, "Christian will make a lovely escort for you, I hope my escort will be as great as he."

"Have you given any thought to who would ask you to be his escort?" Nellie asked. "a certain young man by the name of Lawrence, perhaps?" she asked once more with curious eyes. Lawrence Van Drobie was a common friend of theirs and a love interest of Samantha's. The only problem was that she didn't know if he had any feeling beyond platonic for her.

"Well, Grandmary said she has found a nice young man to escort me so I wouldn't have to worry," said Samantha, "that is unless he's not nice at all." She said these words with a sense of nervousness and uncertainty.

"I suppose you don't think Lawrence will ask you, but a more pressing matter is who is this new mystery escort of yours and when will he come?" asked Nellie, "I do hope you won't meet him on the day of the ball, it doesn't seem right to come at the very last minute."

"W-Well, the thing is," stammered Samantha, "I d-don't know who he is and I d-don't know when he's coming."

"Gracious!" cried Nellie, "How can Grandmary be so careless not to tell you who he is. Let's ask her now!" Before Samantha could even respond Nellie had grabbed her hand and ran down the stairs into the formal parlor where Grandmary, Cornelia, Gradiner, and the Admiral were having coffee and laughs.

"Miladies, how lovely of you both to grace us with your presence," joked Gardiner who always managed to tease and compliment anyone and everyone at the same time.

"Girls, is anything the matter?" asked Grandmary, "I'm sure you would not need to scamper about the house if there was not an urgency, so as I have asked, what is the _matter_?"

"Do not worry Grandmary, this is truly urgent," informed Nellie, "I was-well, Samantha and I were hoping to know who her escort is. It does not seem right that he must remain a mystery."

" Well girls, why don't you sit down and join us and Grandmary will tell you," said Cornelia, "Try some of the madelines with the coffee." The girls sat with a ladylike forte hoping their good behavior will persaude Grandmary to give as much detail of Samantha's escort as possible.

"You need not be worried Samantha or you Nellie," began Grandmary, "in fact you have both met this young man before."

"I have!" cried Samantha as she stood up from her seat and suddenly remembering her manners sat herself back down and smoothed her skirts. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Grandmary, please, do go on."

"Thank you Samantha," replied Grandmary, "As I have said the young man to escort you is one who is familiar to your acquaintance. Your escort is Edward Ryland and I have arranged for him to come for afternoon tea tomorrow." Samantha immediately lost any appetite for madelines and coffee.


	2. Chapter 2

***Sorry, If it feels like it has been a while, but everything in my life has been so hectic, plus I'm trying to work the plot through with everything that is going to happen. Enjoy and review please***

~Two for Tea, and One to Tattle~

_"Consideration for the rights and feelings of others is not merely a rule for behavior in public but the very foundation upon which social life is built"_

_- Emily Post_

Edward Ryland!? No, Eddie Ryland! Samantha had thought she was through with hot-headed nincompoops like him. He had always teased her when Samantha was a young girl living with Grandmary in . The fact that he was also her next door neighbor was not convenient. Nellie also had the unfortunate luck to know him, but worse. Nellie was, for a brief time, a servant at the Ryland household and although that is how her friendship with Samantha began, that was also when Eddie started teasing her too.

"Oh...well it has been a long while since I have seen him," said Samantha as she was pretending to sip her coffee, all the while her face was growing pale.

"Not long enough," muttered Nellie

"What was that dear?" asked Grandmary

"Ehr, I said that, um, it has been long enough and Samantha should be reacquainted with him as soon as possible," replied Nellie and with a mischievous glint in her eye she continued saying, "it is a shame I will be out on a walk with Christian and would therefore miss him." She simply smiled and continued on sipping her tea while they both knew that Samantha was grouching on the inside.

"Nonsense," said Grandmary, "Christian should come to afternoon tea as well, you can walk with him another day. I would like to meet him." This was responded by a slight smirk from Samantha. If she must be reacquainted with Eddie, so must Nellie.

"Definitely," chimed in both Cornelia and Gardiner who chuckled at their simultaneous response. Their compatibility was something Samantha could not stop desiring for and she was sure she would not find this compatibility with Eddie Ryland.

"Our girls' escorts must also be acquainted with each other," said Gardiner, "With all the time these two spend together, I'd be surprised the boys wouldn't become just as close friends."

"May I also remind you dear," said the Admiral to Grandmary, "that there is also another resident of Mt. Bedford who will join us."

"Yes, indeed" said Grandmary as she shook her head at herself for her forgetfulness, "Edith Eddleton is also coming to the city tomorrow to be properly debuted." Samantha and Nellie were about as fond of Edith's coming as they were of Eddie's arrival.

The next morning both girl woke up with an uneasy feeling. They both weren't looking forward to the tea but at least they had their debutante lessons to look forward to. If they may not complain to the adults then they may complain to their peers. Samantha and Nellie always managed to dress in a manner that was stylish and flattering without being too trendy. Today, Samantha was dressed in a petal pink dress with chiffon frills along the torso and on the sleeves with a lace overlay on her skirt. There were pearl buttons were roving along the back of the dress which quite complemented the teardrop pearl earrings Samantha wore, and she also wore the gold locket which carried the pictures of her birth parents. Samantha always wore that locket and kept it close to her heart.

Nellie was not as fond of laces and frills and Samantha is, she instead wore many prints and pleats. Today she wore a yellow toile dress with a pleated skirt and a marvelous navy blue sash at her waist and she wore simple gold heart shaped earrings. Both girls did not wear ribbons in their hair anymore. Now that they were young ladies Gertrude would come every morning to put their hair up. This was not a delight to the girls as Gertrude had a habit of pulling their hair too tight. Sometimes Gertrude would be sick or busy and thus the younger childrens' nanny, Felicia would substitute. Felicia was slightly older than Samantha and Nellie and they would talk of important engagements and society news and most importantly, she was gentle with the girls' hair.

"Did you hear about Amelia Farther's engagement to that automobile-lad, Nicholas Dodge. The boy's a scoundrel and gambler, much less a man mature enough for engagement," remarked Felicia as she was pinning Nellie's hair.

"Yes, I did hear, but her family has been going through some troubles and his father's automobile business is quite lucrative," said Samantha.

"Their paring is quite unsatisfactory," supplied Nellie, "Amelia is one of those girls who wants a loving husband and many children with support. She's always dreamed of a fairytale marriage, but i suppose we can all say that is far from her reaches now."

"Well, I hear that you are to expect old friends for tea this afternoon," said Amelia changing the subject. She had many bobby pins in her mouth but always managed to carry a conversation without any misunderstanding.

"If you can call them our friends then I suppose you should also call Nicholas as Amelia's true love," said Nellie, "They were both horrid and taunted Samantha and I for being friends because I was a servant."

"We'll just ignore them," replied Samantha casually. Her hair was already done and she had set herself up on the chaise reading Harper's Bazaar's summer trends. "Ooh! Lord and Taylor is having a sale on cotton fabrics, we can buy plenty of fabrics and have beautiful dresses ready-made for summer."

"We can't just ignore them," said Nellie who was now stepping into her shoes, "Especially you Sam, Eddie is your escort, how can you ignore your escort?" Felicia stepped out to grab the girls' coats and Nellie sat by the bed and would only stare at Samantha with a frustrated look.

"What is it?" asked Samantha when she finally noticed Nellie.

"Christian doesn't know I was a servant," Nellie said with worry in her eyes.

"Oh, Nellie, you know he doesn't pay attention to any of that stuff. I know that no matter what happens Christian will still be there."

"That's the thing, what if he wants to introduce me to his parents?" said Nellie who's eyes were now watering with the anticipation of failure, "how is he supposed to introduce me? 'mother, father, this is Nellie, she was a servant who did actual work and has the rough hands of a laborer to prove it.'"

"Nellie, Christian will not care that you were a servant," said Samantha as she comforted Nellie in soft and soothing voices, "I promise."

"Do you really?" asked Nellie

"Really, now lets get to our lessons and have a bit of fun before this accursed tea party," said Samantha. She helped Nellie into her coat and dried her eyes and like any good pair of sisters, they walked off into the world arm in arm.

Miss Dover's School of Etiquette for Young Women, which is called Miss Dover's for short, was a quaint little building among rows of dress shoppes, ballet studios, and fancy lunch restaurants. Mrs. Dover, the owner, felt it was good to surround the girls in the environment they will be instructed into. The interior of her building has white walls with intricate paneled designs and a beige carpet with periwinkle blue velvet curtains and there were always flowers. Large arrangements of roses, peonies, tulips, and wild orchids, and there were also small arrangements of the simplest daisies. Every nook and cranny of the building have been filled with flowers. The place was like encountering a secret garden every time you walk, even if walk in everyday. By the longest part of the front room there were an assortment of chaises, chairs, and couches where all of the girls coming in will wait until they are brought to whichever room they must attend their lessons. This may seem troublesome to wait until you are told where to go, but the girls use this as ample time to trade stories and catch up on their daily dose of gossip. Samantha and Nellie had an intimate group of friends at Miss Dover's whom they talked to almost every day. Their friends consisted of Abigail Williams who was from Boston and claimed she was named so because she is a supposedly distant relative to Abigail Adams, there was Jennifer-May Wildwood, whose family came from the South and was poor until their unfertile plots of land seemed to sprout black oil and they decided to gather their new fortunes and live in the big city, and then there was Eloise Turner. she was from one of the riches families in New York, what set her apart from the other uber-rich girls was that she was also kind, generous, and was always pleasant to everyone no matter what their place in society was.

"Hello," chimed all three girls to Samantha and Nellie as they entered the school.

"So how was everyone's weekend?" asked Jennifer-May while she was picking lint off her dress.

"My father came home with my ballgown from Paris yesterday," said Eloise, "but I tried it on and it's too big. I wanted to take it in, but my mother won't have the dress compromised, which means I'll be stuffing my face with sweets until the ball. I'll be lucky if I can manage to wear the dress without it falling off!" Her face twisted into a sour smile, "good thing my father also brought home a new pastry chef from Germany," said Eloise and the girls and she proceeded to giggle at her predicament.

"Samantha," said Abigail, "have you found yourself an escort yet? If not, I'm sure I can find a friend of mine to be yours for the night."

"That's alright Abigail," replied Samantha, "I found someone, sort of..." The girls could tell something was wrong because Samantha became quiet and so they looked to Nellie.

"Her escort is this rotten boy we knew in ," supplied Nellie, "He always teased us, he was always immature, and played many horrid pranks."

"One time he ruined the ice cream at my tenth birthday party," Samantha added.

"Cheer up, Sam!" said Jennifer-May, "he could be changed, if he's old enough to escort you then he's old enough not to tease girls and play childish pranks. That sounds like my older brother, but given some time and he's turned into a true gentleman."

"Of course," agreed the other girls. The girls were then led into their classes where they were taught the fine arts of dancing, sitting, and proper behavior. The girls had fun with this and their time flew by. Which was not good. Now it was time for tea.

The table had been laid out for eight; Samantha, Nellie, Eddie, Edith, Christian, Cornelia, Grandmary, and the Admiral. The guests have not yet arrived and Nellie sat with Samantha while Samantha was stressing out. "What happens if he's the same old immature boy?" Samantha asks Nellie, she had been chewing on her fingernails and a lock of her hair had been exceedingly curled due to her tendency to twist it at the most aggravating of times.

"You won't have to worry, I talked to Christian about it and if that happens then he'll engage him in conversation so that you won't have to talk to him," said Nellie, "now, we just have to worry about Edith. Eddie may have been a boy when we last left him, but Edith Eddleton will always be a stuck-up know-it-all." Samantha and Nellie tried to keep their ladylike composures but could not help themselves and laughed their heads off!

Gertrude entered the girls room. "Young ladies, the guests have arrived and you are both expected downstairs immediately," she said, "hurry now before your Grandmary is apt to scold."

The girls soon found themselves at the tea table. Samantha and Nellie sat next to each other. On Samantha's left was Eddie and next to Eddie was Christian who sat next to Edith who sat next to Grandmary who sat next to the Admiral who sat next to Cornelia who sat next to Nellie. The area had an unsettling silence except for the tinkling of the teaspoons. Samantha had been so tempted to maneuver a hand gesture she and Nellie had learned from their friends called "the awkward turtle" though she knew full well Grandmary would disapprove so instead she nudged Nellie's left arm and did it out of sight to the others. Both girls tried to stifle their laughter but they were unsuccessful. "What is it girls?" asked Cornelia

"Oh, we're, uh, just so...giddy about the Ball," replied Samantha with a quick excuse

"Well you should be with such a dashing escort," said the Admiral

"And handsome too," added Grandmary. Samantha turned beet-red with embarrassment while Eddie turned his head down with his face out of sight and looming over the tea as if he was reading the leaves.

"Well," Edith said, "My escort was much more dashing and handsome than Edward here but, he fell off his horse and won't be able to make it."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," said Cornelia.

"Yes, well," said Edith, "perhaps he may get better soon." She then turned to Christian and said, "you remind me of my escort, Darryn." She then reached for the sugar and "accidentally" knocked into his arm. "Oh dear, I'm sorry Christian, it's a good thing you have such big, strong muscles to stop my fall," she said and with that she giggle and fanned herself about, batting her eyelashes faster than a hummingbird batts his wings.

Nellie suddenly felt an urge of protectiveness towards Christian and stretched her hand across the table to hold his and looked directly into Edith's eyes and said, "Oh, what a fortune for me! To have those arms keep my fragile stature standing on the dance floor. I am so glad that I am the _only_ girl you are escorting Christian."

"I am surprised, Christian," Edith said to him, "I did not know you liked to date the lower class, Nellie was a _servant_ at Mount Bedford." All the blood left Nellie's face and drew away from Christian as if a wild beast was to emerge from him any minute. Christian could do no more but look at Nellie with eyes of disappointment.

"I think I should be going," Christian said in a civil voice as he stood up, "Thank you for the tea Mrs. Edwards, I can see myself to the door."

"Christian are we still having that walk tomo-," but before Nellie could finish her sentence the door had stopped it and was proceeded by frigid silence as Nellie listened to Christian drive away. Away from her.


	3. Chapter 3

***I know this is wicked late! But school and life has got me on hold, sorry. Hopefully this summer gives me more time to write. :) Enjoy lovelies!**

Crush Into My Heart

_Once in a while—a very long while—one meets a brilliant person whose talk is a delight; or still more rarely a wit who manipulates every ordinary topic with the agility of a sleight-of-hand performer, to the ever increasing rapture of his listeners._

_-Emily Post_

"He hates me! He hates me! He hates me!" said Nellie. She was burying her face into her pillow; her body was laid over the bed like a girl who'd been shunned by her suitor.

"Nellie, please stop crying," said Samantha. They were in Nellie's room and all of the guests had gone home. Needless to say, Edith's goodbye seemed to be a very awkward one between her and Mrs. Edwards whose face pierced like a hurt mother bird.

"Perhaps he just needs time, and he'll come to his senses," continued Samantha.

"And if he never comes to his senses?"

"Then he's not worth your time."

"I want him to be. I just never thought he'd care"

"If you thought that, then why didn't you tell him before?"

Nellie just shrugged in response. She buried her face back into the pillow. Samantha was sitting at the edge of the bed stroking Nellie's hair and could not help but feel sorry for her sister/best friend. Samantha glanced down to see her tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice. It was her and Nellie's favorite book and decided to use her knowledge of Jane and Bingley's relationship to console her sister.

"Nellie, you and Christian are just going through a rough patch. Look at Jane and Bingley, Caroline, who in this case would be Edith, will prevail in her attempts to tear you both apart from each other," said Samantha

"I don't want to be Jane and I don't want Christian to be Bingley. I just want us to be as we are, b-b-before...oh! He hates me! He hates me!" Nellie went back to her pillow. Samantha rose from the bed.

"I'll get you some hot chocolate and if you want, we'll discuss this further," Samantha said. She walked down the stairs and past the informal parlor towards the kitchen. On her way back, she heard hushed voices coming from the parlor and could not help herself but to lean in and listen.

"That was a disaster," said Cornelia, "should we try to intervene between Nellie and Christian?"

"I think those two just need to sit down and talk, but we must get them in the same place," said Grandmary

"Perhaps, they could reconcile at the opera!" cried Gardiner, "Mrs. Holsten told me how her husband was taking her and Christian to see _Carmen_ tomorrow night. I think I could stop by and see if the company has any tickets on hold."

"Nonsense, we'll use my box," said Grandmary, "It would be incredibly silly to have Christian walk from his box all the way down to a floor seat to visit, it's unheard of. Cornelia, you had best call Mrs. Holsten, or better yet, visit her and we will explain the circumstances to her."

And so it was set. The Admiral will be escorting Grandmary and Nellie while Samantha would be escorted by Edward. They would be in box five. Mr. and Mrs. Holsten along with Christian would be situated in box seven. The adults had agreed that Nellie or Christian would not be able to avoid one another, and nothing could go wrong with such an arrangement...except for the young lady in box number six.

Samantha was taken by surprised. Grandmary had always told her it was not polite to interfere in other people's lives, but this must have been an exception and, a terribly romantic one at that. She quickly scurried back to Nellie to tell her all she had heard.

"You mean Christian's forgiven me?!" Nellie cried. Her eyes had dried up at hearing the possibility of seeing Christian again.

"Erm, not exactly," said Samantha, "you'll just see him again and hopefully things will work out."

"That's not very promising"

"That's all Grandmary could do, the rest is up to you. Oh, please don't mention this to her, then they'll known I've been eavesdropping."

"You know I won't but, you'll need to help me with what to say," Nellie said, "oh and also what to wear."

"Do not worry my dear, when I am done with you Christian will be on his knees begging to take you back."

*****

Samantha and Nellie were getting ready for the opera that following night.

Samantha wore a sage lace evening gown. The dress was off-the-shoulder with the straps falling at her arms. On the sleeves were rows of ivory bows. There were pearls sewn into the lace and a beautiful ivory sash on the waist with an emerald and pearl brooch on the sash. To accommodate any unforeseen chills there was a ruffle ivory satin jacket. Samantha was not trying to impress Edward. She wanted to be sure she looked so amazing that he could find no fault to torment her. She despised him as a child and dreads him more as a young adult.

Nellie wore a plum taffeta dress. Her dress had draped sleeves which flew into the wind like purple clouds as she walked. At the bodice of her dress were clusters of crystals and the amount of crystals dispersed as the dress went down creating the effect of stars spreading across the sky. She wanted to look her best for Christian, to sparkle so bright he could never forget her image.

"I've been thinking," said Samantha, "how will we all fit into Grandmary's carriage? It can only contain four people and our group is five..."

"Maybe we'll meet Eddie there," Nellie replied

"Thank God! I wasn't sure I could handle making polite conversation with him," Samantha remarked. To that, Nellie let out a great big laugh.

Girls! Are you decent? The opera waits for no one," called the Admiral

"We're ready," the girls simultaneously replied.

The girls were sitting in the parlor with the Admiral and Cornelia as they were still waiting for Grandmary. Then the doorbell rang and caught Samantha off guard. _Who could be calling?_

Gertrude answered the door and showed the guest into the parlor.

"It's Mister Eddie Ryland come for Miss Samantha," Gertrude announced.

Samantha was floored! Did they expect her to take an automobile alone with him?! Samantha ushered Cornelia into the next room to talk.

"Cornelia, there must be some mistake!" Samantha quietly exclaimed, "It is, after all improper for a young lady to come unescorted with a man before she has been introduced to society." Samantha never cared for society's formal conduct and the rules that came with it. Now, manners mattered.

"Don't be worried Sam," Cornelia assured her, "Your uncle will be driving you to and from the opera. Grandmary, the Admiral, and Nellie will take your Grandmary's carriage"

Suddenly the back door opened and Uncle Guard had come back from work and had all of his driving gear on.

"I promise not to embarrass you," Uncle Guard added and with that he winked at her. Samantha restrained her urge to roll her eyes for the sake of decorum and respect.

Propped into the car, Uncle Guard was in the driver's seat. He had left Samantha and Eddie to sit together in the back. Unluckily, Uncle Guard's backseat had only two seats unlike other cars which held three. If there had been three seats then Samantha would've been able to establish silently acknowledged boundaries between her and Edward.

"You first," said Edward as he opened the car door for her. She climbed into the car with ladylike finesse and tried to get as close to the edge of the car as possible to create some space between them. She noticed that his voice had gotten deeper, which was not unusual in growing boys. His hair had also gotten darker. Before, it was a bright shade of orange but had darkened into a complimentary shade of auburn. _He's gotten quite attractive_ she thought. _No, stop it. You are not interested in Eddie, think of Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence, Eddie, darn it!_ The car had taken off while awkward silence filled the air between Samantha and Edward. Uncle Guard broke the silence.

"Edward, your mother tells me you're interested in moving pictures?" asked Uncle Guard. This peaked Samantha's interest. She loved watching moving pictures.

"Yes Mr. Edwards, I've been working with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company," Edward replied.

"What do you do there?" asked Samantha as she inched closer to him.

"We produce movies. Well, the directors and producers do, I work for them. I get coffee and run errands but they also let me watch them work and sometimes I get to handle the camera. It's a whole different type of work. I want to produce movies one day but I've got to start from the bottom-up."

"Sounds like an honest living," said Uncle Guard, "How would you provide for your wife?" Uncle Guard winked at the pair from the rear view mirror. They blushed.

"One of the producer's is retiring. I've become very close with him, he's my mentor. He's promised me his position after he leaves. I just hope I can become as good as him."

"What movies are you going to make?" asked Samantha.

"A writer friend of mine showed me a work of his. It's very promising. What movies do you like to watch?"

"I like anything with lots of adventure," said Samantha, "it's very exciting to watch, as if I was really there catching villains, or searching for treasure. I especially like it when the heroine gets to come along instead of staying home like a distressed damsel."

"I love watching cowboy movies," said Edward

"Me too!" cried Samantha

The two had hit it off. They talked about much more and found they had many things in common; they liked riding bicycles in central park, reading, archery, and ice cream parlors. Edward's work took him to many different places throughout the country and Samantha loved hearing about it. He was polite, charming, and somehow else changed. She couldn't describe this new difference in him but she liked it. She was falling for him.

"Would you like to see a film sometime?" he asked, "thought, after your coming out of course."

"Oh, I-"

Samantha was cut off by a crash. Another car had collided with theirs. All she had remembered was a great flash of light and then clamoring coming from surrounding pedestrians. Samantha did not feel injured. In fact, she felt safe, like an angel had protected her. It wasn't an angel though, it was Edward. The two looked at each other for some time amidst all the chaos. Suddenly a thick liquid fell onto Samantha. Looking up from his arms, she saw that Edward was bleeding.


End file.
